Somerset cafeteria workers worried about being absorbed by contractor

Longtime union cafeteria workers in the Somerset and Somerset Berkley school districts have serious concerns that their jobs could be compromised.

Michael Holtzman Herald News Staff Reporter @MDHoltzman

SOMERSET — Longtime union cafeteria workers in the Somerset and Somerset Berkley school districts have serious concerns that their jobs could be compromised.

Led by Alison Viana and Doreen O’Gara, both Somerset residents who work at Somerset Berkley Regional High School, with 15 and 21 years experience, respectively, half a dozen workers came to address the School Committee on Thursday night.

They waited a while to do that — a school board executive session scheduled to conclude at 7 p.m. continued past 8 p.m.

The letter Viana gave to a Herald News reporter and later to the School Committee said, “It has been brought to our attention that the school committees (Somerset K-8 and regional) are still leaning toward an outside source to feed our children. While (Whitson Culinary Group) showed promise when they came to us in January (2013), this is not so at the present time.”

That statement was issued after initial contract negotiations between school officials and AFSCME Local 93 on Tuesday, Viana said.

“We kind of got blindsided,” she said, based on information the two women said they received from Scott Taveira, the union’s representative in New Bedford.

“It didn’t look good,” Viana said of the concept that Whitson, which manages the lunch program at all town and regional schools, could absorb the districts’ public food service work force.

They said eight full-time cafeteria staff, working 30 hours a week with full benefits, and more than a dozen part-timers without benefits, are part of their union.

Viana and O’Gara said the pay for those working full-time and veteran part-time workers is $14.44 an hour.

Taveira did not answer a phone message left at his office on Friday.

While the school lunch programs at the town and regional levels have been losing tens of thousands of dollars for years, officials stressed that nothing has been decided about workers’ jobs.

Somerset School Committee Chairman Robert Camara said Friday that he informed the group that Whitson was invited to the committee’s next meeting on April 17. Union workers were encouraged to attend that meeting.

“We’ve certainly not made any decision. We want to get a clearer picture,” Camara said when asked about the School Committee’s position.

He said Whitson was asked to make a presentation to the committee about state of the districts’ school lunch programs.

Camara said he would abstain from considering the issue because his mother is a cafeteria worker.

The letter from the food service employees criticized methods and resources Whitson has been using, and said the quality of school lunches has gone down.

Marc Furtado, business manager for the town and regional school district, told The Herald News that this year the K-8 district was losing $60,000 to $70,000 from the school lunch program, and the high school was losing $20,000 to $30,000.

In prior years, the losses were greater.

The elementary schools finished the last school year with a deficit of $137,303, with expenses nearly $100,000 greater than the year before, officials reported.

The high school lunch program ran a deficit of $86,689, Somerset Berkley School Committee Chairman Richard Peirce reported last summer. He said such losses were not expected this school year.

At that time, Furtado reported the lunch program had lost “at least $80,000 a year for five of the last six years.” That situation prompted the solicitation of a private food vendor to manage the program. Surrounding communities have made similar changes.

Furtado said in an interview on Thursday night that there have never been discussions about “letting people go.” However, the School Committee could address the option to have food service workers become a part of Whitson, rather than working for the municipalities.

Such a scenario could affect salaries and benefits, including health insurance, vacations and employee seniority.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.